Method of destroying enemy gun positions



R. A. FESSENDEN.

METHOD OF DESTROYING ENEMY GUN POSITIONS.

APPLICATION FILED usc. a. 1919.

1,384,030. Patented July 5, 192-1;

.ILL. I I

' 2/ m A? I REGINALD A. FESSENDEN, 0F NEWTON, MASSACKUSETIS, ASSZGNOR TOBUB 5' SIGNAL COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF METHOD OFDESTROYING ENEMY GUN POS ITIONS.

Original application filed January 7 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REGINALD A. FnssEN- DEN, of Newton, in the countyofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States,have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Destroying EnemyGun Positions, of which the follow-- ing is a specification.

My invention relates to the destruction of enemy gun positions and thelike, and has for its object increased efficiency and effectiveness inaccomplishing such destruction.

The drawing accompanying this specification shows, partlydiagrammatically, means for accomplishing this result.

Heretofore in warfare the reduction of land fortifications bybattleships has been considered as substantially impossible and theresults of such operations have been, as a. rule, substantiallynegligible, as, for example, in the Civil War. the Spanish-American Var,and the attack on the D'ardanelles in the recent war.

The method herein disclosed renders it possible for the first time fornaval forces to meet'on a superior footing and to destroy landfortifications, such. for example, as those of the Dardanelles. Itenables such reduction to be effected with great rapidity and efficiencyand it also is of great value in reducing land fortifications by meansof siege artillery by shortening the time of reduction and the cost ofsaid reduction. The method has numerous other advantages, some of,which-are referred to in this specification.

Broadly speaking, this new method which forms the subject of the presentapplication is the exact opposite of one of the two older methodsheretofore used, as it is the exact opposite to the desultory method, inwhich guns were fired at random intervals and at random targets andtherefore exploded at random intervals and in random localities, in thatin the new method the action is synchronous. Also it is the exactopposite to the second of the old methods; 6. e. the volley method, inthat in the volley method a plurality of guns are fired simultaneouslyand not necessarily at the same target, and the explosions take placemore or less at random even when all are fired at the same target, onaccount of the dispersion of the volley making the times of impactdifferent, whereas'in the present method a plurality of gunsSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1921.-

time is reached, whereupon all explode simultaneously.

This method, as will be seen, is entirely novel and has, never beforebeen used in warfare and, so far as applicant has been able to ascertainfrom the ordnance ofiicers of the United States, Great Britain andFrance, has

never been proposed.

The drawing illustrates suitable means for utilizing the presentinvention. As is well known in warfare, the territory in theneighborhood of the fighting line, for example, that of thefortifications to be attacked, is divided into squares of any suitablearea. For example, in artillery work the squares may be twenty-fiveyards on the side. Such a. square 11, in which the enemys gun 12 islocated, is shown in the figure.

The position of the enemys gun 12 having been located in the square 11by any suitable means, it might be destroyed in the old well known way;2'. e. the guns 19, 20, and 21 having been ordered to destroy it,commence to throw shells into square 11 and continue until gun 12 is putof action. This old method, as a rule, requires a large number ofshells. Immensely more powerful effects may be obtained by the use ofapplicants synchronized fuse method. In this method, instead of each.gun firing independently of the other two, or all of the guns beingfired in volleys with impact fuses, thereby necessarily exploding,except in rare instances, at different times, in the new method the gunsmay be operated substantially independently of each other but the shellsare arranged so that all shells which have fallen within the square 11within a given period of time lie there until a certain definiteexplosion time arrives, whereupon all explode simultaneously.

y this means immensely greater destructive effect can be obtained andthe action of the enemys batteries greatly weakened for the followingreasons.

With either of the older-methods, 2'. e.

dcsultory firing or volley firing, and using the three guns, 19, 20, 21(capable of being fired once per minute without becoming so much greaterdestructive effect than the random non-simultaneous discharge of thirtyshells within the same area.

As a recent illustration of this. the munition ship M t. Blane inHalifax Harbor produced a much greater destructive effect than if eachsingle charge of explosive which the ship was carrying had explodedindividually.

the synchronized fuse method the destructive effect is approximatelyproportioned to the square of the number of shells explodedsimultaneously.

Obviously a single gun operating this way can produce the samedestructive effect as a large number of guns operating by volley firingor by random firing.

As the timing of the fuses is unknown to those operating gun 12, afterthe fall of the first shell in the area 11 the effect on the gun crewwill be that all operations will be suspended until the explosion timehas arrived and the shells have exploded, whereas in volley firing it iscommon practice to take cover at each volley and operate betweenvolleys.

The method is obviously much less expensive for the production of agiven effect and much quicker in operation.

In the use of applicants method the shells will be equipped with timefuses, preferably a simple type clockwork mechanism such as thatproposed by the applicant to the United States and British authoritiesat the commencement of the late war and which came into use and wasfound to be very reliable. The fuse time may be made as long as desired;and, in fact, the time may be so extended that four or five shells firedfrom a single gun may be arranged to explode simultaneously.

In operation, supposing that it is desired to explode thirty shells inone synchronized burst in the area 11, ten shells are laid out to eachof the guns 19, 20, 21 and the clockwork time fuse of these shells maybe all set simultaneously by any convenient means, for example, by aseries electric circuit, to explode at fifteen minutes past zero time,

Applicants experiments show that with.

The thirty shells having been set simultaneously for fifteen minutespast zero time, immediately after zero time each gun commcnces to firethe shells at the rate of say one a minute so that at the end of abouteleven minutes all thirty shells will have been fired into the area 11and may be buried in the dirt or concrete where they'ma until fifteenminutes from zero time, w ereupon all thirty will explode simultaneouslyand do an immense amount of. damage.

Incidentally, this long delay of the fuse time is van additional factorin producing large destructive effects, as after the shell has fallendirt continues to fall into the hole the shell made while penetrating inthe neighborhood, so that in effect each shell is tamped and, evenacting independently, will produce a much greater effect than an impactshell or one fused to explode after penetrating a certain distance.

With the clockwork fuse referred to.the explosion time can be definitelyfixed to an accuracy of one one-hundredth of a second, which is morethan ample to secure effective synchronism, since the rate at which anexplosive wave travels through the round is only of the order of a milea secon so that in one one-hundredth of a second the 'distance traveledby the explosive wave will be less than twenty yards, while the areataken, 25 yards, is often smaller than would be used in practice.

If desired all guns may be fired simultaneously, by means of the firingcircuits 22, 23; 22 being a battery and 23 a firing key located in saidcircuit. This is not, however, necessary.

This synchronized fuse method may of course be applied to effect thesimultaneous discharge of shells under water as Well as under ground;for example, by synchronizing the fuses of depth bombs.

In many cases, especially where depth bombs are used, it is advantageousto so direct the dropping of the depth bombs or shells that at theinstant of firing they will all be located approximately on the arc of acircle whose center is at the point where the greatest effect is to bedesired. In this way the explosion wave from the simul-' taneousdischarge of the shells or depth bombs will arrive racticallysimultaneously at the center as a a focus, where the submarine or otherbody is which is to be delie stroyed, and a greatly intensified effectwill be obtained, since the destructive efi'ect varies as the square ofthe amplitude of the explosive Wave.

By the term enemy gun position is meant any position from whichprojectiles are discharged by the enemy.

By the term explosive wave effects is meant all the destructive effectsresulting from the simultaneous explosion of the synchronously timefused projectiles, i. e. not only from the fragments of the projectilesbut also from the shock transmitted through the earth or water or air,from the ejected dirt, stones, water, gases, etc., when synchronouslyexploded in the manner described.

VVhat I claim is:

1. The herein described method of destroying enemy military positionswhich consists in throwing into a predetermined and small area of saidenemy military positions and at a distance from each other of the sameorder of magnitude as their depth of penetration, an accumulation oft1me fused shells so set as to explode simultaneously and'independentlyof their time of firing and of the distance at which they are fired,whereby the explosive wave effects from a number of said shells is madecumulative by occurring at the same instant, and independently of thenumber of guns from which the shells have been fired.

2. The herein described method of destroying enemy military positionswhich consists in simultaneously setting the time fuses of anaccumulation of time fused shells, whereby they will explodesimultaneously and independently of their time of firing and thedistance at which they are fired; throwing said accumulation of shellsinto a predetermined and small area of said enemy military position-andat a distance from each other of the same order of magnitude as theirdepth of penetration; whereby the explosive wave effects from saidshells are made cumulative by occurring at the same instant andindependently of the number of guns from which said shells have beenfired.

REGINALD A. FESSENDEN.

